Modern ski boots all include a soft, compressible inner boot liner enclosed in a hard outer shell. During skiing, the sole of the ski boot is rigidly connected to the ski by a ski binding. As a result, the ski boot acts as an interface between the ski and the lower leg of the skier. The skier exerts control over the ski by movement of the skier's leg, and this movement is transmitted to the ski through the boot. This movement can be separated into two components, movement in the forward/backward direction, and side-to-side or lateral movement. The lateral motion (tipping the ski) places the ski on its edge and allows the creation of a banked platform in the snow on which the ski can take a curved path, similar to a banked turn on a roller coaster.
Modern skiing and especially ski racing requires the skier to have excellent fore/aft balance during the turning of the ski. The construction of the ski boot plays a key role in allowing the skier or ski racer to maintain such balance. Forward pressure is applied to the front of the ski through the ski boot and bends the front of the ski more than the back. Various approaches have been described to optimize this aspect of the leg-to-ski boot interface.
One example found in many ski boots is a non-elastic “power strap” which secures the boot to the lower leg of the wearer by use of a conventional hook and loop (VELCRO™) closure. Such strap is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,067.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,594 provides an improvement on the power strap concept, by incorporating an elastic portion into the strap. This allows the strap to apply a relatively constant pressure to the lower leg of the wearer as the boot is flexed and relaxed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,946,061 and 8,359,771 disclose a variation on the concept of U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,594 in which a non-elastic strap is supported on or connected to an elastic element that is attached to the boot.
These efforts to modify ski boots to enhance the interface between the leg of the skier and the ski have all focused on improved transmission of the forward/backward movement of the skier's leg. This forward/backward aspect is of significant importance for good skiers and especially racers, but may be of less importance to novice and recreational skiers who do not generate the same amount of movement in this direction as part of their turning movement.
The present invention focuses on enhancing the efficiency with which lateral movement of the skier's leg is transmitted to the ski.